


labels, who needs em?

by ilovesorakingdomhearts



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Theyre just baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 08:22:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19998844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovesorakingdomhearts/pseuds/ilovesorakingdomhearts
Summary: Armin finds himself contemplating the nature of his relationship with the boy closest to him.





	labels, who needs em?

**Author's Note:**

> takes place after trost! ahh memories

Armin felt like he was wading through a dream, his surroundings feeling surreal. He dragged his legs forward, one by one, in a slow and heavy rhythm.  
His legs ached, his arms ached, every part of his body was just sore.  
The Survey Corp was being put through the miller in preparation for the upcoming expedition, the most grueling of drills being saved for the newly inducted 104th Cadet Corp.  
To be blunt, it was fucking awful.  
Armin sighed quietly.  
The corridors were empty, seeing as it was getting late and there was a curfew to be upheld.  
It wasn't only the cruel training that had the blond feeling troubled.  
It seemed that almost every night, as soon as he closed his eyes, he was taken back.  
He was back, stuck staring in horror at the bloody, wide green eyes looking at him with fear and desperation.

An outstretched hand, and a second later a Titan's jaws snapping closed.  
An arm taken off with a sickening snap, spinning almost comically as it fell to the buildings below.  
Armin hadn't been in his own head in that moment, distantly wondering if the horrific scream that ripped from his throat was indeed his.

And now that they've joined the Survey Corp for real, finally, he barely even gets to see the best friend he'd thought he'd lost for good.  
He knew, obviously, that Squad Leader Hange and their crew were inducting all kinds of experiments on Eren, to test the limits and capabilities of his Titan form.  
Necessary, yes, but Armin still felt bad for Eren and held the tiniest hope that they weren't doing anything extremely cruel to him.

It was also extremely annoying, hearing veteran soldiers and newbies alike whispering about Eren behind his back. Armin couldn't exactly fault them for being curious and a bit, well, nervous.  
However, he just wanted people to be a bit more open minded.

Armin blinked, snapping out of his fatigue-induced reverie, and glanced around. His feet lead him to a wooden door that appeared to loom over him, large and intimidating.  
He moistened his lips nervously, checking the adjacent hallways to make sure the coast was clear.  
Corporal Levi barely slept, and instead usually took to prowling the dimly lit corridors at night time, hunting down soldiers breaking the curfew.

He slowly opened the heavy door, wincing at soft groan that was drawn from the hinges, stepped inside, and gently closed the door behind him.  
Before him was a winding staircase, which would lead Armin down to the jail cell the Survey Corp were keeping Eren cooped up in.

Armin hated the idea of his best friend being locked up like an animal in a drafty jail cell.  
It was inhumane and demeaning.  
The only positive thing was that no one kept guard over Eren during the night, as they'd discovered soon enough that the guards usually just fell asleep anyway. Anybody would, after the training the Survey Corp were forced to undergo.

Armin padded down the stone staircase quietly, hearing nothing but the sound of his own breathing.  
As he reached the last step, he noticed the gently orange light from torches flickering on the wall, dancing.  
He peered around the corner, and a small smile graced his face. He saw the jail cell, and inside, lying face up on an uncomfortable looking bed was Eren Jaeger.  
He was staring up at the ceiling, one arm behind his head acting as a cushion, the other idly tracing shapes into the mattress.  
Armin made himself known with a little cough, and Eren's head snapped to his direction.  
He blinked, and a huge smile spread over his boyish face. He swung his legs over the bed and practically leapt over to the cell bars, grabbing ahold of them.  
Armin strode over, listening to Eren's excited babble.  
"Armin, what are you doing here? Isn't it past curfew, shouldn't you be in bed? Levi's gonna kick your ass if he finds you but, man, it's SO good to see y-"

Armin quickly reached through the bars and clamped his hand over Eren's mouth and hushed him.  
"It's good to see you too, but you can't be so loud! I-"  
Armin suddenly felt something wet and slimy slide over his palm, and he retracted his arm so fast, you'd swear he'd been shot.  
Armin examined his hand with thinly veiled disgust, and looked up at Eren incredulously.  
"Did you seriously just lick my hand? Gross."  
Eren merely grinned impishly in response and rattled the cell bars gently.  
"Grab the key, 'Min. It's just over there, on the wall. Get your ass in here."

Armin scoffed at him, and turned to snatch the key. The mention of Eren's childhood nickname for him made his face burn.  
When they were little, Eren had some trouble pronouncing the letter "R".  
While Eren had no qualms about pronouncing his own name as "Ewen", he hated the fact he couldn't pronounce Armin right, especially when the tiny blond's reading abilities were so advanced for his age.  
Eren then elected to simply refer to him as 'Min, at least until he could pronounce "R" properly. It was "cute and fits you", as Eren had declared loudly.

Smiling gently at the memory, he made his way over to the cell door, key in tow. He certainly didn't miss Eren's soft gaze watching over him while he fumbled with the lock.  
Sure enough, it soon turned with a soft 'click'!  
As soon as Armin had stepped inside the old cell, and had gently shut the door, Eren was on him like a vulture.  
He wrapped his arms around Armin's smaller frame, and sighed into soft, golden hair.  
Armin released a breath he didn't mean to hold, and allowed his head to rest on Eren's shoulder.  
He couldn't help notice Eren's unusually high body temperature, and while before he hadn't thought twice about it, now he absently wondered if it was a side effect of Eren's Titan shifting powers.

The blond smiled as he felt Eden murmuring softly into his hair, "Missed you so much."  
Armin felt Eren's mouth shift into a scowl.  
"You're much nicer than the Corporal."  
Armin snorted and burst into giggles, overcome with an unbearable happiness now that he was enveloped in Eren's arms once again.  
He felt Eren's hand against his head, stroking his hair gently. He could feel Eren's heartbeat thumping steadily in his chest, maybe a bit faster than normal.  
Most importantly, he could feel Eren's life, his passion, his drive. He was here, relatively safe and alive. Armin felt something welling up in his eye, and he simply buried his face into Eren's warmth. He felt Eren's arms tighten a fraction around him.

Eren was surprisingly tactile, however, he wasn't the kind of person to welcome just anybody into his arms.  
He was touch hungry when it came to a certain blond genius for sure.  
More often than not, if you were to find Eren and Armin together at any given time, the hotheaded brunet would be fiddling with Armin's hair, he'd have an arm draped around him, his head would be lolling on his best friend's shoulder as Armin read to Eren, etc.

While not an unusual sight for definite, it had sparked some rumors around the Cadet Corp about the nature of their relationship. When confronted about it, Eren would usually just grab Armin's hand, glare at the accuser, and stomp away with his flustered best friend in tow.  
What they had together was no one's business but theirs, not even Mikasa's.  
Not that she minded, more often than not Armin would catch the subtle thumbs ups she'd send his way occasionally.

Armin didn't mind if no one understood what he and Eren had together, it made it more unique, more personal.

Eventually, the two best friends had made for Eren's small bed, silently communicating with one another.

Eren slipped in first, being the bigger of the two, and Armin slotted in beside him, curling into Eren's warmth. The cell was a bit drafty.

Eren's arm draped lazily over Armin's waist, and the brunet leaned down a tiny bit to place a small kiss on Armin's nose.  
The blond merely squirmed in response, lifting his own head to meet Eren's lips in a little peck, before letting his head flop back onto the hard pillow.  
Eren chuckled softly.  
Armin always got embarassed when Eren gave him affection, he loved it of course, he was just.... shy.  
As the blond lay in the arms of his closest friend, he wondered what they were, together. Armin pursed his lips and let out a soft sigh.  
Eren stirred next to him sleepily, and poked Armin's soft cheek with a finger. "You okay?"  
Armin flushed, and merely nodded.  
They really needed to get to sleep now, but before Armin allowed himself to succumb to the haze, he quietly mumbled something he'd never gotten the chance to say aloud before.  
"Love you, Eren. G'night."  
As his eyes fluttered shut, he heard a hoarse voice sputtering beside him, before coughing quietly.  
"L-love you too, Armin. Sleep well."

Armin and Eren had never put a label on their relationship, or felt the need to.  
All that mattered was that they love each other, and that much is obvious to anyone that spends time with them.

**Author's Note:**

> eremin . that's it that's all I have to say


End file.
